On Mon, Dec 12, 2005 at 02:05:52PM -0500, erik@plastic-idolatry.com wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 12, 2005 at 07:59:57PM +0100, Pavel Cahyna wrote:
> > I think the latest GRUB in pkgsrc has patches to support this. BTW you can
> > enter the root device manually, the kernel will ask if it is not set.
> 
> Well--I'll try installing this and see if it does the trick.
>  
> > Another option is to chainload the NetBSD bootloader from grub:
> > 
> > chainloader (hd0,0,a)+1
> >                  ^change to the number of your NetBSD partition - TAB will help
> > boot
> 
> I read about this, but wasn't sure how to install the NetBSD
> bootloader into the proper place... the installer only offered to
> install it into my MBR. How does one do this? I assume that I might
> end up messing up my filesystem by installing the boot loader at this
> point.

There are two NetBSD bootloaders.

1/ the MBR loader, which loads the secondary loader from the active
partition. There is an alternative version of it which can offer a menu of
partitions and let you choose. It is described in the mbr(8) man page.

2/ the secondary bootloader, which sits at the beginning of the NetBSD
partition, having a component in the file /boot. Tis is what presents teh
command line and loads the kernel. It is described in the boot(8) man
page.

My suggestion was to use grub as 1/ (it can do 2/ too, but as you
discovered, it is suboptimal, unless you use the patched version) and
chainload the NetBSD secondary bootloader (2/). The secondary bootloader
is installed with the installboot(8) command. 

Pavel